With the approach of the Holiday Season, we are embarking on a time when the alcohol gets poured more often. It might be tempting to have a drink with your Family and Friends. You might even say, "Just because I'm giving up smoking doesn't mean I have to give up alcohol, too! In fact, I believe that giving up 2 vices, i.e. pleasures, at once is just too much to ask!" But you would be listening to Nico-Lies!
Nico-Lies are created by your Addictive Self with simpy one goal in mind - your next FIX! They know you intimately because they are a part of you! But listening to them is a sure-fire way to relapse, after all, that's the Addictive Self's one and only goal!
It is important for us to know that everything that we could do as smokers, we can also do as ex-smokers. We just have to teach ourselves how. Drinking is a special case because the association is so strong and by its very nature lowers our inhibitions. It can cause people to do some very irrational behaviors. Smoking can be one of them. Because of the drug's influence, it is best that people take it on gradually, after having at least 4 Months Quit. Drinking while in No Man's Land is an almost certain recipe for disaster!
If you have more than 4 Months and you feel confident in your Quititude you should probably limit yourself to one drink the first time out just to show yourself that you can have a drink without smoking. Also, you should do it with people who are non-smokers and who really are supportive of your quit. This is a much safer situation in the beginning than going out with drinking buddies who smoke cigarettes and who may be envious of your quitting, and who, while drinking themselves also have their inhibitions lowered. It may manifest in behaviors of encouragement of smoking at a time when you are more vulnerable.
Actually, for the rest of our lives we will need to keep our guard up, in a sense reminding ourselves of our reasons for having quit and the importance to stay off smoking, every time before we take a drink. It prepares us to face the situation in a much safer state of readiness.
Something very important for all of us to keep in mind is higher, more volatile smoking urges happen before we actually begin drinking, suggesting that alcohol consumption may be in response to smoking urges rather than vice versa.
